Decoding spoken words using local field potentials recorded from the cortical surface

Communication in patients with “locked-in syndrome” is often an arduous task. Intuitive and rapid communication may be restored by directly interfacing with language areas of the cerebral cortex. We used a grid of closely spaced, nonpenetrating micro-electrodes to record local field potentials (LFPs) from the surface of face motor cortex and Wernicke’s area. From these LFPs we successfully classified a small set of words on a trial-by-trial basis at levels well above chance, demonstrating that this approach can be used to potentially restore communication to locked-in patients. Go to PubMed

This work demonstrates a decoding method that can detect and classify finger movements without any a priori knowledge of the data, task, or behavior, and lend further support that a chronically implanted Utah Electrode Array is suitable for both acquiring and decoding neuronal data. Go to PubMed